The Doomsday Spiral [Mass Market Paperback]

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: General Paperbacks (1983)
• ISBN-10: 0773781722
• ISBN-13: 978-0773781726
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,381,104 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Since his first book was published in 1983, Jon Land has written twenty-eight novels, seventeen of which have appeared on national bestseller lists. He began writing technothrillers before Tom Clancy put them in vogue, and his strong prose, easy characterization, and commitment to technical accuracy have made him a pillar of the genre.

Land spent his college years at Brown University, where he convinced the faculty to let him attempt writing a thriller as his senior honors thesis. Four years later, his first novel, The Doomsday Spiral, appeared in print. In the last years of the Cold War, he found a place writing chilling portrayals of threats to the United States, and of the men and women who operated undercover and outside the law to maintain U.S. security. His most successful of those novels were the nine starring Blaine McCracken, a rogue CIA agent and former Green Beret with the skills of James Bond but none of the Englishman's tact.

In 1998 Land published the first novel in his Ben and Danielle series, comprised of fast-paced thrillers whose heroes, a Detroit cop and an Israeli detective, work together to protect the Holy Land, falling in love in the process. He has written seven of these so far. The most recent, The Last Prophecy, was released in 2004.

Recently, RT Book Reviews gave Jon a special prize for pioneering genre fiction, and his short story "Killing Time" was shortlisted for the 2010 Dagger Award for best short fiction and included in 2010's The Best American Mystery Stories. Land is currently writing Blood Strong, his fourth novel to feature Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong--a female hero in a genre which, Land has said, has too few of them. The second book in the series, Strong Justice (2010), was named a Top Thriller of the Year by Library Journal and runner-up for Best Novel of the Year by the New England Book Festival. The third, Strong at the Break, will be released this year, and the fourth, Blood Strong, will follow in 2012. His first nonfiction book, Betrayal, written with Robert Fitzpatrick, tells the behind-the-scenes story of a deputy FBI chief attempting to bring down Boston crime lord Whitey Bulger, and will also be released in 2011.

Land currently lives in Providence, not far from his alma mater.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb espionage/technothriller, June 5, 2002

By 

D. A. Dodd (Huntsville, AL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: DOOMSDAY SPIRAL (Paperback)

"The Doomsday Spiral" is Jon Land's first published work. It's long out-of-print, but a definite "must read" if you can locate a copy. Land's novels are always entertaining, but this one is the best of his that I have read.

The story centers around a plot by a thought-to-be-deceased madman to eliminate half the population of the United States. However, this would not be done by obvious means -- nuclear or biochemical warfare. Three agents are sought by the U.S. to prevent the madman from implementing his plan. Friends come and go via various means, all which make the battle that much more difficult.

Like all great espionage thrillers, this one grabs the reader from the start and never stops until the book ends. There are betrayals, multiple gunfights, deaths of key and/or well-liked characters. The story's rapid pace will keep a reader enthralled long into the night. Like Land's other works, he presents a well thought and prepared story with all the elements that make a great espionage/technothriller.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First Jon Land!, August 30, 2011

By 

Melvin Hunt (Cleveland,, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Doomsday Spiral (Kindle Edition)

The hero of this book is Alabaster whose real name is David Rabanine. He is actually a Mossad assassin. He begins the story by hunting a terrorist named Abad Salim. Alabaster finds out that he is hiding in Haifa. Alabaster finds him and kills him. Meanwhile in America another problem has popped up. A journalism student takes a photograph of a group of Arab gentlemen in Orovidence,Rhode Island. He mails the pictures to Leslie Kirkman. Eventually the CIA discovers that members of Black September are alive and well in
America. Most notable amongthe men is Abu Hassan better known as the Red Prince. Their executioner Seif is to kill John Desmond of the CIA David Rabanine of Mossad because they are capable of stopping their plan. It is finally that a Nazi plot is set to be hatched by
Black September. This plan will eliminate half of America's population.Alabaster has to sift through leads all over the world to get to the bottom of the evil plan. All of this leads to an exciting book that you cannot put down. Be sure to read it.